


Casting Brass

by FanfictionConsort



Category: Dragalia Lost (Video Game)
Genre: Angst and Humor, Attempt at Humor, Character Development, Dragons, F/M, Fix-It, Fluff and Humor, Therapy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-04
Updated: 2019-09-26
Packaged: 2020-07-31 05:49:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,995
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20110144
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FanfictionConsort/pseuds/FanfictionConsort
Summary: In which Mym learns her actions have consequences.For example, sitting in the fireplace to remind you of home, fantasizing about Euden, and then chokeslamming Elisanne gets you booked into therapy.





	1. The Incident

**Author's Note:**

  * For [FanfictionConsort](https://archiveofourown.org/users/FanfictionConsort/gifts).

Brunhilda was going through a weird patch in her life. Although anyone who told her that would be in imminent danger of spontaneous combustion.

For the past thousand years she'd barely spoken, slept for years at a time, and spent her waking days immolating anything that intruded on her cozy little volcano. Or swimming in lava. Really makes a girl feel refreshed.

So the whole thing where love snuck up on her and hit her like the wet part of a tsunami was kind of unexpected.

And also explained why, for the sixteenth time in four days, a legendary dragon had morphed herself to a mostly human appearance, and then started staring off into space as her mind played through a newly-constructed fantasy about whatever human thing had shocked/confused/aroused her.

Seriously, they have this thing called farming, and if you're not raised to know about it it's going to blow your dragon mind.

Although the vast majority of her fantasies centered on Euden. Prince and leader of the country. Most powerful individual on the planet. Calm, warm and loving on the outside, roaring with fiery determination and a will like a magma stream on the inside. Translation: Oh By Elysium, who cares if he's a human he is literally the biggest crush a dragon can have.

The current fantasy... Is too explicit for this narrator to say, but suffice it to say she was having a good time.

The Paladyn sent to fetch her for her weekly duties of setting the enemies of New Alberia on fire was not having a good time. Getting the dragon out of one of her stupors was a delicate thing. Brunhilda, informally known as Mym, had a reputation for needing a hot second to sort reality from fiction. And subsequently having some very odd reactions, much to the amusement of that asshole called Jupiter and the concern of everyone else.

In this such instance, our resident Paladyn Elisanne walked into the kitchen, and took a few seconds to figure out which bed of coals Mym was sitting in this time. The one used to cook meat, as usual. Elisanne carefully walked forward, took note of the fact Flamewyrm Brunhilda was sitting in the coals and staring off into space/the rack of frying pans, and called out.

"Mym? It's time to go."

Nothing. Maybe a whisper on her lips. Elisanne gripped her lance. Time for the physical approach. Although she didn't really want to put the wooden end of her favorite lance into the fire pit. The metal end was sharp. Sideways was impractical, and Elisanne is not an impractical woman. So she mustered up a little bit of water mana in her hand, and as quick as she could, stuck it into the fire and tapped Mym's shoulder.

"AUUUGH GET OUT GET OUT GETOUT!" Was the noise that accompanied Mym leaping out of the fire, dragon tail flinging burning coals everywhere, left arm knocking the lance away and right arm grabbing Elisanne by the throat and sending her to the floor as a several-hundred degrees hot woman landed on top of her and slapped twice before Elisanne shoved her off.

It was around that point that Mym realized that Elisanne was not walking in on her enthusiastically starting a family.

"...Oh, bother."

And that, long story short, is how one Paladyn was placed in the medical ward for two days, and how, with the best of intentions, Prince Euden hired the single unluckiest man in New Alberia.

Voluntary therapist Benji, the man here to get Mym to stop setting her allies on fire.


	2. Charisma, or lack thereof

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Do I know what I'm doing? No. Is that going to stop me? Also no.
> 
> Also the Halidom has some normal guards. Unbelievable, I know.

The room Cleo cleared out and furnished was about ten paces wide and long. By human standards, perfectly reasonable. The chairs were old wooden ones with a cushion each, perfectly reasonable, and there was even a Radiance Orb nailed to the ceiling to provide light.

How Cleo did all this in half an hour with her paper arms and mighty two-kilo deadlift record is a mystery for the ages.

What was definitely not perfectly reasonable, at least from Mym's point of view, was the fact she was actually expected to spend time in this room. To 'work out any problems'. And learn why it was wrong to accidentally give a Paladyn second degree burns.

To be fair, the Paladyn's girlfriend explained that one to her in detail. With a knife in hand. Mym did at least manage to hold off on daydreaming about acting out that scenario in reverse for a good ten minutes.

She was on the verge of refusing to waste her time here and setting Ranzal just a little bit on fire for trying to order her around, but then he went and played the unbeatable trump card of "It's probably gonna help ya get Euden to do stuff."

And so, here she was. Lance in hand, brimming with fire mana, and wondering what kind of task she was actually expected to perform here. Working out problems was generally done by hitting them with sharp objects until they went away.

The door creaked.

Mym got ready to fight.

The door opened, and one of the castle guards walked in, minus his helmet. And armor, actually.

"You're not really dressed for solving problems." Mym started, as a sense of something being wrong dawned on her.

The guard stepped in and she instantly decided she hated him. Dull brown hair, blue-but-not-flattering eyes, and of course he had an affinity towards water mana, so she'd need a little more effort to set him on fire.

"It's... Therapy, not combat training..?" He looked up and down her, and by Elysium, his voice was just so... Powerless. Just devoid of that awesome commanding charisma her darling had.

"And just who are you trying to make an impression on?"

"I'm not here to fight. It's just that... Well, humans solve problems by talking about them. So I'm here to talk about..." He went into his pocket and drew out a bit of paper. "Uh... Setting people on fire, and also to help with any emotional issues you want to share."

"Okay, I'll humor you, since I promised to spend an hour here. Setting people on fire has a technique to it, first you need to break through any natural mana they have protecting them, and then you have to give it a bit of airflow to make sure the fire mana doesn't have to do all the work-" She stopped, and eyed the guard. "You're not looking enthralled. Tsk, this is why I prefer my darling prince."

"I'm, uh, meant to kinda ask you not to set people on fire. It's a bit extreme." Wow, even the way he held that paper annoyed her.

"What? You'll live." She huffed. "I always make sure I don't permanently injure people my darling doesn't want me to."

"Oh, you're dating? I didn't believe the rumors." The man looked at the chairs. "Let's sit down and talk. I am getting paid for this, and Prince Euden's just too nice to do a bad job for."

"Rumors? Rumors, really? What kind of seafloor do you live under?!" Mym neglected to lie down on the sofa, sitting bolt upright and tapping her lance impatiently. "Out love is a roaring inferno! A deific blast! A whirlwind of flame and fury!"

"I... Just... Didn't really... Expect people to, um, you know, date someone who sets people on fire as a first resort."

Mym leaned in. "You are dangerously close to joining the crispy idiot club, buster."

The man took a deep breath. "Okay. I... Am probably going to regret saying this. But you can't set people on fire if you want a successful relationship."

"Says you! I love him, and he loves me, and we are having a fantastic relationship."

"When was the last time you went on a date, spoke, or-"

"We were battling monsters yesterday. Let me tell you, he knows how to treat me right. And he is unbelievably sexy when he's giving orders."

"Okay... I'll be honest with you. That's generally not considered a date. Have you ever... Been on a picnic with him? Or traveled somewhere together? Shared a meal? Gone to the library? Even just play a simple game?" He shook his head. "Wait, crap, I'm meant to be here to try and let you feel open about problems. Not to pick apart your love life." He then shook his head a second time, but this was more of a reaction to having a Lance pointed at it.

"Oh, I'm open alright, but I don't have any problems!"

He put his hands up. "Hey, you didn't set me on fire. Thanks. Guess that's half of the job description done!"

* * *

When a man went running past them with speed that no castle training could ever have taught him, clothes smoldering and chased by a dragoness with a spear, Luca gave Ranzal a resigned look for a long two seconds, before putting a hand in his pocket and taking out the promised fifty rupees.

Never bet against a mercenary.


	3. The ole' switcheroo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yall mind if I...
> 
> /Start putting the earliest signs of an Actual Plot in here?/

Mym didn't know how she ended up agreeing to session two.

Everyone else knew exactly how Mym was convinced to go to session two. Do I even need to tell you?

So that's how Benji ended up stepping back into the room, wisely wearing a chainmail vest under his clothes. "Um... hello."

Mym was waiting there. And seemed like she was going to make sure he didn't waste his efforts finding a nice chainmail vest judging by the fact she was leaning on her favored lance. How thoughtful.

She neglected to reply, almost pointedly ignoring him.

"So... do you want to take a se- Hyk!"

She was fast. Faster than all but the best of humanity. In the blink of an eye, she grabbed him by the scruff of his shirt, lifted him overhead with one hand, and looked up at him critically. "Let me make this clear. I am not here to be asked to do things by anyone I don't respect, and if there's one thing I don't respect, it's being told I'm bad at romance!"

Benji had a feeling that this might not be worth pressing. "Can I get down?!"

"No! You stay on the ceiling and like it!" She shouted. "I might be in this room, but I'm not stuck in here to listen to you!"

"Please?!"

Mym glared, and finally found one thing she liked about this room. The ceiling was the perfect height for her to slam annoying people into. And so Benji stayed there, as she started daydreaming.

"So... have you... _ever..._ Missed a single weightlifting session?" Benji looked down. "It's been at least half an hour up here, and I'm kind of thirsty."

Mym was looking at the wall with a silly grin. Benji had learned enough about her to know that whatever she was thinking of probably involved Euden.

He wondered if she was consciously carrying him around in her daydream or if she somehow possessed an instinctive drive to keep him stuck up here.

She blinked a few times. "Mmm. How long has it been?"

"About two-thirds of an hour?" Benji offered hopefully.

"Eh, good enough. Arm's getting tired. And I read something, too." She glanced at the reclined chair, and with a graceful if forceful motion, released the guard from his elevated prison and slam-dunked him onto said chair, before sweeping around and sitting in the taller one facing it.

She then picked up the thus-far unused sheet of paper and pen, and leaned forwards. "So, tell me about your problems."

"Isn't this what I'm supposed to-"

"Shutup. Shush. Shut." She shifted uncomfortably, dragon tail snagging on the chair and earning it an instant position on the list of Things Mym Doesn't Like About This Room. "I spent like half of that time planning out how I could ask my darling about anything I can do for him, so it has to go exactly as planned."

"You... Wrote a script?"

"No, I just predicted everything my darling would say. Now, you're both humans, so even though you're kinda pathetic, put yourself in his shoes for a few minutes. It shouldn't be hard!" She grinned, although it gave more of the impression of baring fangs than a bright smile. "Now! Tell me about your problems, darling."

There was a two second silence. Then a five second silence. Then a ten second silence. "Well..."

"Go on, don't be shy around me!"

"I... do hope that my sister is alright." Benji said uncertainly. Everyone knew Zethia was missing, and had been for months. Nobody knew the specifics. And most importantly... not a lie for Benji either.

"..." Mym blinked. "Wait, what?"

Benji sweated, as she rolled the pen in a way that suggested 'melee weapon'. "S-sorry! Was that wrong, or-"

"Totally not what I planned, but-" She licked the pen, and went to scribble on the page. "Yes, I forgot about humans staying with anyone they're born around! Also, this is really nice ink... Yum." She dabbed the fountain pen in her mouth again for a split second.

"Please don't, I only have one bottle of ink."

"Flamewyrms do what they want." She retorted, putting the pen in her mouth like a straw. "As thanks... I'll come back next time."

"Wait, really!?" Benji lit up.

"Yes, really... Ugh, okay, stop looking like that." She took the dry, now scalding-hot pen out of her mouth. "Seriously! You look even worse when you're acting like that." She flicked the pen over to him.

He instinctively grabbed it. "Yahooch!" He also instinctively dropped it, and started blowing on his hand.

"Okay, bye, see you next time." Mym got up, seeming in an oddly good mood. Benji wondered why for about two seconds before overhearing a 'Now I'll show him how much I've learned, just you wait darling~'.

He was strangely certain that he should wear the chainmail vest to the next session too.


	4. Gossip

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which I deal with Mym's fourth adventurer story. 
> 
> I wish she had a real adventurer story. Only the fifth one is worth anything, and that one is still intended to be a dreamcrusher.

Mym got to the room. She had debated leaving her lance behind his time, but if that watery man tried to withhold any potential dating help then it would be an excellent plan B. Now to just make sure she got there first; never let the enemy take you by surprise.

She opened the door, and the enemy took her by surprise. Benji had not only turned up earlier than her, but he was _in the good chair._

"You GNAT! That's my chair!" She snapped, walking over and making a grab for Benji's collar. He had the audacity to duck.

"Nope!"

She reached back to grab his front instead.

"I need this chair to do an effective job helping you!"

The hand stopped dead. Mym leaned down. "How exactly does stealing a greatwyrm's chair help you do an effective job of solving problems?"

Benji didn't have glasses, but if he did he'd have pushed them up. He settled for a reasonably confident smile.

"And who the hell are you, what did you do with the previous guy? He'd be quaking by now?" Mym added.

"Basically, I honestly find you a lot less scary after last time." He answered. "If you keep cooling down around me at the same speed, I might even get out of here without a single burn today! As for the chair, it's all about giving me the power to ask questions to you."

Mym narrowed her eyes. The lance was feeling more useful by the moment. If spineless man was annoying, spineless-but-acting-fearless man was like a fly that had just stopped moving for a good two seconds.

"Go on, sit in the other one. Lie down, if you want."

"Your advice sucks, you know?" She picked up the lance, easily twirling it to point at her target.

"Sit down, and tell me more. What was wrong with the advice I... wait, what advice?" One short stutter from him, and Mym was confident that she could regain control. Not that she couldn't anyway. The human heart was on the left, so if she aimed about there...

She gently, by her standard, put the tip of the lance over the wrong side of Benji's chest, leaning in a bit. "Your advice was like a volcanic eruption. Impressive at first, total mess afterwards." She leaned in _way too much._ The therapist had an unfortunate view of some eyes that were definitely not 100% human looking at him like an insect. His confidence was held together entirely by a few links in the chainmail shirt currently protecting his left lung, and the fact he had the decent chair.

"...Tell me in detail. Please."

"He appreciated me talking about his sister... A lot. I haven't seen him really _react _to any of my advances before, but when I asked him about her... He picked up like never before. I felt so... powerful! But then..." She glared. "It just... fell apart. Completely! Your advice to talk about people you're related to just... crashed the conversation!"

Benji was quiet for a few seconds as he tried to remember when he gave that advice. Logically in the last session.

Mym was not a logical creature. "Well?!"

"Okay... what exactly did you say to him before the conversation crashed?" He said tentatively. Sweat was crossing his brow in a few places now, and some part of his monkey brain chose now to realise that Mym was hot.

Oh, not sexually. He realised his shirt was actually starting to crisp up and that Mym's ambient energy was somewhere in the region of 'I bathe in magma and complain it's too cold sometimes'.

"I said that its' just life. Dragons lose siblings more often than not, so why be upset?"

Benji blinked. "Ah."

Mym did not blink. "Ah? That 'Ah' had better contain a lot of information, you soggy icicle."

Benji took a deep breath, and his lungs definitely did not thank him for inhaling air that would have cooked anyone but a person attuned to water mana from the inside out. "Sit down and I'll explain in detail."

Mym relented, and sat down. She even made the generous gesture of removing the lance, and holding it in just the right offhanded way to suggest she'd use it again if necessary. Benji was wondering if explaining this was a suicide mission, but hey, Prince Euden had introduced him to a man called Thaniel who was an expert in healing burns.

"So... family bonds are... important to humans."

"Yep, got that." Mym said impatiently. "Man and woman fall in love, stay in love through everything, make little humans through love, then raise little humans together before they're sent off to start more families. Basically like dragons with more companionship and less reliability."

"But family bonds and values, specifically? How much do you know about them? What people mean to each other, and the roles that have to be fulfilled in a family?" This chair really was something else. Although not being cooked alive was nice motivation too.

"Not... not in detail. You. Tell me."

Benji took a calm breath. "Okay, traditional families are simple, and found pretty much everywhere. The man of the house is expected to be strong and provide for the rest of his family while the woman keeps the household functioning and looks after children. In some places you'll find it's the other way around and the woman is the breadwinner for them but the traditional roles just work pretty well so they're used often. Sometimes you might see a different setup depending on the personalities where they both provide and have a nurse for the children or both save a lot of money and stay at home together for the children.

"Otherwise, there's the matter of interpesonal bonds, and what every member of the family would mean to every other member. Children look up to their parents for protection, guidance, and as an example for what to become. Parents look to their children as the next generation to define the world and carry on legacies or start new ones. And children are bonded... well, strongly. If you grow up around someone, know them as truly as possible and mutually support each other... even if they seen like bickering fools, they have the strongest of bonds. That's why it hurts Euden so much that Zethia is gone. Does that make sense?"

"Actually. I do have a source of information." She said confidently. "That talk of families let me connect some ideas..."

Benji watched as she took-

Benji stopped watching as she took off at least one item of clothing, then heard the rustle of newspaper. "Can you... put your cloak back on..?"

Mym hurriedly passed him a page that had been ripped out of a newspaper. "Read it! It's been really helpful in understanding how human relationships are meant to run... Although I AM surprised you humans stay with each other longer than dragons if it goes like this."

Benji looked at the torn bit of newspaper. He wondered how it had survived inside... whichever bit of clothing it was kept inside. He blinked and looked at the torn bit of newspaper again. He did a double take and prayed to Ilia this wasn't Mym's guide to human relationships.

Gossip page. Complete with gems such as 'How I married my stalker', 'Wedding crashed by three other women', 'Husband fled to Hinomoto', 'Afternoon tea betrayals', 'Noble baby found in bush' and more.

"What do you think? Some of it's a bit of a culture shock, but I REALLY think some of these speak my language!" Mym beamed.

Benji wondered how to get out of this one. The good chair's power was at its' limits, and he could feel his heart unsure if it should skip beats or add in about a hundred extra ones. "This is... Mym... these are..." He swallowed. "These are from a gossip page. They're... highly inaccurate."

Mym froze like a statue. "..."

Never before had a simple '...' contained such murderous intent.

"L-look, we all make mistakes and you couldn't have known!" Benji said quickly. "But these are the most exaggurated, untrustworthy, drama-filled tales that people can get away with handing out for a few Aes on the weekend! They're lies. You couldn't have known, but they're lies." Mym got up and gripped her lance in a not-very-happy way. "So- _Ilia please don't stab m-" _He crossed his arms in front of himself. The killing blow never came.

The door creaked.

Benji got up and watched as Mym sauntered out, and tentatively followed her for long enough to overhear her singing something to herself.

"F is for fire dragon, burning down that town, U is for Euden and me... N is for no suriviiivors, here in my territory!"

Benji made a very wise decision that day, to sprint up six flights of stairs and past several armed guards while calling for Euden.


	5. Leaf Water

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which my inner British is showing.

Benji didn't know how his life became this kind of stressful. Back in the village his people had established after fleeing from Dyrenell the biggest loss of sleep was something like a dog or especially ill-prepared hunter going missing.

Now he was sitting in a therapist's chair at about the same time Mym would be getting out of whichever location she slept in. Trying to predict both the way she'd endanger someone's life today and work out how to change that without resorting to crazy tactics that might end up with him getting cratered by Crimson Inferno.

* * *

Mym came into the room. "A-again?! How early do you get here?!"

Benji sat in the chair with a confident smile, careful not to betray that he'd been up since midnight. "That's a trade secret- Now! If you take a seat, we can chat."

She looked at the seat. She looked at Benji. She smiled, and not in a human way. "Gladly!" She reached out, picked up the young man like a pebble, and carelessly threw him onto the lounging chair, before taking a solid three seconds to find the only angle where she could sit on the Good Chair. The dragon tail was a useful thing in a fight, but it didn't get along with chairs.

"Oof. Walked right into that one..." Benji took a second to push his hair out of his eyes. "No hard feelings about stopping you burning down that village?"

"Eh." Mym shrugged. "I got an excellent chat with my darling out of it, so what's a little setback?" She looked down at the therapist. She put a hand under her chin, as if bored. "Let's chat, hm? I want to talk to my darling for days and days, but I just seem to burn out after an hour or two..."

"Sure thing. More information to you about humankind means I'm doing my job. I think?" Benji said.

"First topic!" Mym declared, leaning in close. "Tell me about yourself. Oh, and give me that." She reached out for Benji's notepad, and as he tried to draw it away from her he failed to account for a rock-hard tail slapping the back of his hand and neatly disarming him of notepad and pen. She took great care to look him in the eyes as she licked about three-quarters of the ink out of the fountain pen, daring him to try anything. "Okay. Speak."

"Alright... basic introduction? Whole story of my life? Just my week?" Benji asked. "I know you're going to take notes, but if you want more topics then I should probably say more."

"Hmm. I dunno, you ARE still the most bland and boring human I've ever encountered. I might get bored."

"Well, I'll-"

"Get on with it!"

He took a deep breath. "I am Benji, from the village New Chattersgrid. We all abandoned our old village, the original Chattersgrid when Alberia started to rebrand as Dyrenell... Anyway, my father was drafted into the Dyrenell army, so I haven't seen him in about a year... When we were setting up the new village, it was pretty much the defining point in my life. Before then I was just a sheltered kid who wanted to help everyone get along. I had friends, but I was always closer with my sisters and brothers.

"Anyway, when we were setting up and my dad was gone, I was the... oldest child around. It fell to me to make sure our house was built in time for the winter, to find work to pay for medicines and tools, and to make sure we gathered or farmed enough to keep everyone fed."

Mym stopped scribbling for a second. "But you're in The Halidom now. That's at least... Hm... like a day's flight before I reach the small villages, so... what, a week's travel for you? Pretty far from a family you're supposed to be supporting."

"My sister fell ill." Benji explained shortly. "The condition has actually been recorded before- they call it 'Beggar's End'. It's... well, I'm no doctor. But it got the name because it's expensive to treat, and needs very consistent treatment to cure. Missing a week's treatment normally causes a resurgence that puts the patient back to square one. So... my mother and I carried my sister to the nearest city that could treat it, and we managed to buy a few weeks' worth of treatment... But that was all our life savings, gone. Granted we weren't ever high earners, but... well, we needed money. And Prince Euden was hiring, so I took up a guard post as soon as I could."

"Oh? So you're basically here for the money?" Mym asked.

"N-no! Well, yes, but not for myself..." Benji said awkwardly. "I don't mean to make a charity case of myself. I earn enough to support the treatments, and to keep my mother at my sister's side. You needn't worry about me trying to guilt you into favors."

"Well, that's good! Because trust me, I don't feel guilt the way you do." Mym said cheerfully. "Keep talking."

He kept talking. "Uh... My favorite colour is white, like snow- but Autumn is my favorite season, it has a lovely set of colours for me to enjoy if I go for a walk. I love meaty foods, especially beef, although I've only had a cut of high-quality beef once, as a special treat on my birthday. We normally can't afford food of that quality, especially beef. I... trained with a blade over a sword when they were offering free courses for the guards, because I like the extra reach. Oh, and my favorite tea is Rovetelle Amber- they sell it everywhere, and it's really affordable for tea. Hm, what else... I suppose my hobbies include fixing things, and fishing."

Benji stopped for a moment. "Well, that's all the basic stuff. Maybe if we found common ground on something we could have a longer conversation? Or you could just pick a topic, and we'll expand on that. A big part of a conversation is just letting things flow naturally, once you've got that all you really need to master is changing the subject once it seems to be getting tired. Oh, and not blowing up at the other person."

"Are you saying I blow up at people?"

"...Mmmaybe?"

"Oh good, you DO have a spine in there somewhere!" Mym grinned. "A rather weak spine, but a spine is a spine! So... Oh, explain this to me. Tea. What do you... see in that stuff? It's literally just hot leaf water. Disgusting."

Benji's expression changed in a way Mym had never seen before. Shed seen him shocked before, but never shocked in a way that actually had some measure of indignance behind it. "Tea. Is one of the greatest discoveries of humankind. And I'm not letting that opinion stand."

"Bring it on, you speck!" Mym declared. "I can go on for days about the problems with that drink!"

Benji sat up, and folded his hands purposefully. "Tea was discovered to the east, by the Qilin Tribe approximately one thousand three hundred years ago, when the leaves from a popular well-scented tree fell into a lake, and a local dragon found they imparted a flavor that could be enjoyed on its' own, unlike most leaves used in cooking or spices."

"Boring. Skip to your defence of the stuff." Mym deadpanned.

"Tea has been enjoyed and spread by no less than FOUR species for over a millenium. Humans, Dragons, Quilin and Sylvans have plenty of agreements with each other, but very few of them all like the same thing. Tea is an affordable, refined, and easily personable drink that is ideal as a compliment to any social occasion or to relax after a hard day. It has at least a dozen different blends of leaves that _I_ can afford with my leftover wages, and each has its own unique traits. Mym- how many different kinds of tea did you try before you condemned it?"

"One! And one is enough! The bits get stuck in my teeth! My body doesn't _need _water mana! And whatever the white stuff is, I'm intolerant!"

Benji blinked. "You... can't drink milk?"

"I can. I just... get ill." Mym said defensively. "Cleo called it 'Lactose intolerance', something about dragons being different to humans."

"And hold on- you condemned ALL OF TEA after one cup, which contained a substance you can't even drink?" Benji narrowed his eyes like a lawyer on the case. "I think you need to have a second try. Tea is special. Its' a drink of every element- water, heat, leaves of wind, with tones as light and sweet as double sugar and milk or dark as a plain night. And its' the perfect way to hold together a conversation if you're struggling. Trust me, if you're going to try and have those longer chats with Euden, then Tea is a tool you want in your repertoire!"

Mym wavered. She grit her teeth. She huffed. She grabbed Benji's collar, and hoisted him up to eye level. "One chance. We're making tea."

Benji found some new wellspring of confidence inside, as if the Good Chair was still with him in spirit. "We're going one step further. We're inviting someone to tea."

* * *

Mym looked at the various objects laid out on the kitchen counter. A lovely fire crackled to her side as she took note of a kettle, teapot, a small cup of sugar, a spoon, and some cloth... next to a solid block of pressed, dried leaves.

"Now!" Benji started. "Making tea isn't an exact science, but there are lots of hidden tricks. First of all..." He took the block of leaves. "Tea leaves come in two forms: If you're a noble you might see an individual setup with a portion of leaves inside a little bag that's good for about half a kettle's water. Or if you're a commoner, you tend to either get the leaves dried and crushed loose, or in a brick. I'm using a brick, so first I break off about this much..." He took a corner off. "And toast it."

Mym moved to grab it, but this time Benji had it far out of reach. "Let me-"

"I know you're the Flamewyrm, but this is my domain." He turned to the fire, and balanced the fragment on the grill for a minute. "You need to toast it just enough to make sure any illness is destroyed, although it also improves the flavor if you get it just right. Now..." He moved it over the teapot, and crumbled the piece. "We turn it to a powder. This makes sure all the flavor is imparted to the water."

"Right..." Mym looked into the teapot, unimpressed.

Benji drew some water into the kettle. "I'll let you do this part. We need to heat this water to the point it's just starting to bubble. Too hot and it'll actually diminish the flavor, but too cold and it won't draw it out quite the same."

Mym seemed to glow red as she used Fire Mana. In about two seconds she had the water at just the bubbliness.

"Great! Now... if you're being fancy, you can put a filter into the teapot to strain out the leaves as your pour the tea. I can't afford one, so I'm going to hold a cloth over the end of the spout." He took the kettle, and filled the teapot up, before taing the spoon and stirring.

"Huh." Mym looked at the dark brown liquid.

"Now! I don't know your palette, but I DO know about that legendary bit of cooking you handed to Euden once."

"The... Slime? Hey, that was high cuisine, why does everyone always act funny if its' mentioned?!"

"...Mym. I hate to break it to you, but... they're trying not to be too mean about the fact you cooked something that no human in the world would touch, let alone eat." Benji shrugged. "I understand, you eat different things to us. We all do. Just... well, nevermind. My point is, if a cup of hot mayonnaise over an actual boiled monster is your idea of a good time, you probably don't want more than a pinch of sugar in your tea, and you want a richer tone." Benji 's hands moved in a trance, wrapping a cloth over the spout and pouring a cupful of tea into a pre-prepared cup with a pinch of sugar. He took it and offered it to the Flamewyrm. "So! Woodcutter's Break, a good, affordable tea with earthy rich tones. A pinch of sugar, no milk, and fresh from the teapot. Take a sip."

Mym tentatively accepted the cup. She sniffed it. Strangely agreeable, even if forests weren't her normal grounds. She took a sip. "..."

Benji looked on in hesitation. "..."

Mym shut her eyes. She could feel the fear coming off him, blending with anticipation, dread... she was tempted to toy with him, but... "...We have a tea party to arrange."

**Author's Note:**

> So I don't know what I'm doing. But I sure am going to be doing things.
> 
> Basically Mym is an untapped well of potential for world building, humor, and exposition on dragons, and while that can coexist with her unrequited love it should be explored.


End file.
